“Yes,” she answered promptly.
“I believe she rejected me at that time because of Corway,” he musingly added.
“Your opportunity is at hand,” she affirmed.
“I accept it;” and then he cautioned in a low tone: “Be careful never to breathe my real name.”
“And you—you will continue to be?”—and she smiled quizically as she put the question.
“My Lord Beauchamp.”
“A most consummate scoundrel!” she added pleasantly.
“The scoundrel begs to share the compliment with his colleague, Miss Virginia Thorpe,” he ironically replied, again bowing low.
That accentuated remark by Rutley revealed to her with sudden vividness the detestable character she was developing.
Acutely sensitive, the stigma smote her with a repugnance that stung and smarted as quivering flesh under the sharp cut of a lash; and being naturally of a fiery temper, she passionately retorted, “It’s false!”